Tag Archives for award availability.
Lufthansa is putting the superjumbo Airbus A380 onto the Denver – Munich route April 30 through September 30th. The plane will also operate from Munich to New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles and Delhi.
That’s a lot of airplane with a lot of seats to fill, and award space especially on the Denver route is wide open using miles from partner frequent flyer programs.
While Etihad is a partner of both American AAdvantage and Air Canada Aeroplan, this space won’t be bookable using those points, and Etihad’s own program is both costly and comes with draconian cancellation penalties. Fortunately, you can book the space using Air France KLM’s Flying Blue as reasonable rates.
Reader Barney wants to know why it’s gotten so hard to use his American Airlines AAdvantage miles to fly in premium cabins to Asia, or whether he’s imagining things? I’d say he’s right, and I think I know why.
It’s no secret that JetBlue has struggled with its transatlantic flights. Right now that’s to our benefit because they’re making business class award space widely available across a number of their flights, in some cases between now and end of spring, and for at least two and sometimes more passengers at a time.
Fiji Airways, which is becoming a full oneworld member and adopting American’s AAdvantage as its loyalty program, launches non-stop service from Dallas – Fort Worth to Nadi, Fiji on December 10. And like many new flights, it has loaded into the schedule with outstanding award availability. I would pounce on this opportunity quickly.
SkyTeam member Vietnam Airlines flies non-stop between the U.S. and Vietnam – four-times weekly San Francisco – Ho Chi Minh City service – with an Airbus A350. There is fantastic business class award availability right now for this flight, for up to 4 passengers per flight, whether looking for trips right away through eleven months from now. You can use this flight to connect onward in Southeast Asia (or, if you’re willing to pay the requisite miles, even beyond).
Japan Airlines business class awards are wide open from a number of different cities, and you can book them using American Airlines or Alaska Airlines miles – as well as points from credit card transfer progams.
You’ll find availability out of Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and even San Francisco, New York JFK Dallas and San Diego. Broadly speaking this is available for winter months, with most available dates offering 2 business class award seats but some dates offering 4 seats.
Singapore Airlines business class between New York JFK and Frankfurt is wide open for awards using Air Canada Aeroplan. Up to 9 business class award seats per flight are available.
There’s exceptional availability in both business and first class on the New York JFK – Hong Kong route in April and May (generally first class is just back from Hong Kong) and you can use this to connect onward in Asia.
Right now there’s wide open availability from 11 U.S. cities on Qatar Airways to book mileage awards in their QSuites business class – to Doha and beyond, whether you’re looking at the Middle East, Maldives, or Africa. Use it to get to India or Pakistan, too.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
